Coupling.



No. 891,718. PATENTED JUNE 23, 1908. T. B. MQMILLAN. COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1907.

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follow1 This invention vrelates to automatic air THOMAS B. McMI LLA N, or SHERRY, TEXAS.

COUPLING.

, 4 Spe cifiationof Letters Patent.

. Patented June 23, 1908.

Application med June 31, 1907. Serial no. 380,175:

M Be it known that 'I ,THOMAS B. MCMILLAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sherry, in the county of Red River and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Couplings, of which the is a specification.

brake and steam pipe' couplings for railway cars, and it is designed asfan improvement upon the general construction of coupler a A further obf'ect of the invention is to provide a coup er which, will couple automaticallywhen the cars are brought together,

which will accommodate itself to the move ment of the cars in-travel, and which is pro' vided with means to effectually prevent the esca e of the air," steam or other fluid.

ith these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the features ofconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference; being had to the accompanying drawing, n wh1ch:

Fi ure 1 is a side elevation of connected coup ers of two opposingcars embodying my invention, portions of the car -being shown in longitudinalsection. Fig. 2 is, a top plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the couplers. Fig. dis a longitudinal section through one of the coupler heads. Fi 5 is an outer eleva tional view of one o the coupler heads with the locking spring broken away to better disclose the construction.

Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 'represent'end portions of, two carsequipped with my improved coupling devices .3 and 4. These couplin devices are similar in construction,,so t at a description of one will suffice for both. 7 1

Extending longitudinally upon the under side of the supporting portion of the car and suitably secured thereto is a bracket '5, the rear end'of which is bent to form; a supporting portion 6 or a bolt 7 carrying at its lower end a guide, ring or yoke 8. The

coupling proper comprises a head 9 provided i with a rearwardlyextending shank or stem 10. projecting at its rear end through the yoke 8, in which it is slidably mounted to ermit the coupling to move in a direction ongitudinal'ly of the car.

the head 9 and ,oke to normally maintain the ,cou ling head coupling comes in .contact therewith. A key 11*, passing through the rear end of shank 10, abuts against yoke 8 to limit the forward movement of the cou ler and prevent the shank from beingpu ed out of the yoke in uncoupling. Y

The head 9 comprises a solidbody portion having at one side an arm or extension 12 terminating in a longitudinally tapered.

tongue 13. The said arm 12is of a width in a'predetermined positionan to cushion the impactwhen another p A coiled cushioning spring 11*surrounds the shank between corresponding substantially to one half the 'thickness or transverse dimensions of the head 9, and consequently lies wholly upon one side of the longitudinal center thereof,

and in the head on the opposite side of its longitudinal center is formeda socket or recessl tapered correspondingly to the tongue 13 said socket being adapted to' receive the cooperating "tongue. upon the opposing coupling. The tongue ta ers ordimmishes 1n width outwardly,while t e socket is tapered inversely, so that when the tongues of two 0 posing couplers slide past one another in t e o erationof connecting the couplers together t e tapering formation of the tongues and sockets will adapt the tongues to be guided accurately into position, thus causing the opposingfaces of the cou lersto be brought.

into" intimate contact. e tongue 13 of each head merges'at its inner side into the inner wall or face of the arm 12, but terminates short of the outer face of the arm, whereby an abutting shoulder 15 is provided at the juncture of the outer sideof the arm with the tongue to abut against the coacting shoulder 16 formed at the forward end of the outer side of the socket 14 of the opposing cou ler. I

rovlded with one or more with the longitudinal center or axis of the arm 12, the passages 17 and 18 opening at their rear ends through one side of the rear portion of the head and communicating with nipples 17 and 18 for connection with hose pipes leading to the pipes or conductors on the cars. The other duct 19 is incommunication at its rear end with a diagonal duct or passage 20 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, extending across and opening through the rear of the head at the opposite side and communicating with a coupling nipple 21. The inner ends ofall three ducts open through the inner face of the arm 12, one above the other, as indicated in Fig. .5, the said ends being counter-bored or enlarged to receive elastic rings or gaskets 22, said gaskets being adapted to abut a ainst the gaskets upon an opposingcoup ler to effect a fluid-ti ht connection between the ducts upon t e two couplers when the latter are coupled together. It will be understood that the three ducts may be respectively for the passage of air, gas and steam through the coupler to connect the pipes forming part of the brake mechanism and illuminatmg and heating equipment of the car.

Arranged upon the side of the head on which the arm 12 is formed, is a bifurcated shoulder comprising a pair of lugs or projections 23 arranged to form an intervening upon the op osed or socketed side of the couplin is adapte for cooperation Wit the bifurcated shoulder upon the o posing cou ler. The

shoulder is so forme that it wil serve the function of a locking shoulder for use in con nection with a humped locking spring of the type disclosed in my aforesaid prior application, and also operate in connection with a flat I late sprin of the type herein shown.

As illhstrated, the spring 25 is fastened at its rear end to the f ce of the coupling and projects forwardly eyond the socket and beyond the extremit of the tongue 13, the outer or free end 0 the spring being bent or curved, as indicated at 26, to form a guide portion to adapt said spring to ride freel in contact with the opposing coupling. he

free ortions of the springs of the two coupling heads are adapted when the coupling heads come in contact to slide through the guide grooves or passages 24 in the respective heads and to clasp the heads with sufii-- cient energy to hold them on all normal conditions of service in interlocking engagement, the construction, however, bem such that upon the disconnection of the or inary draft couplings of the cars and the movement of one car away from the other the spring will oppose no resistance to the disengagement o the coupler heads upon said cars. As no endwise parting strain falls upon the two cou ler heads 9 in operation, so long as the dra t couplers are connected, 1t will be under- 85 stood that the springs will serve to'maintain guide groove and receiving passage 24, while isposed a con ling spring 25 the opposing faces of the coupler heads 9 in intimate contact so that the steam or other fluids may freely pass thereto from one car to the other without liability of leakage at the joint. It will be further observed that by the formation and arrangement of the lugs 23 the s rings upon the two coupler heads interloc with said lugs so that the couplers will mutuallv act to sustain each other in a substantially horizontal position and prevent any possible liability of sagging of the couplers at a point in advance of the points from which they are suspended from the forward ends of the brackets 5.

It will be understood and be apparent from the illustrated disclosure that the coupler heads are arranged in rights and lefts" upon the opposite ends of each car, so that the couplers upon opposing cars will come together with their ton ues and socketed' portions interfitting, as ustrated in Fig. 3. p

In order to su port the forward end of each coupler head, the forward portionof the bracket 5 is bent downwardly to provide an arm 27 which support chains or other flexible connections 28 attached at their lower free ends to the sides of the cou ler head 9. These chains support the coup er head in position, while permitting the same to have 0th vertical and lateral play to adapt it to swing freely to communicate itself to the vertical and lateral play of the cars in running and rounding curves.

It will be understood that in operation when two cars come together the abutting faces of the two coupling heads thereon will ride in contact and mutually adjust themselves t-o duct closing position, and the springs will slide into their receiving grooves betweenthe lugs and clasp the couplings together securely enough to effect an air pipe connection between them. In the separation of the cars, when the ordinary car couplings are disconnected, a slight movement of one car away from the other will withdraw the s rin s from engagement with the respective earTs, thus permitting the couplin heads to separate. i

n practice, the lever upon each car for opcrating the knuckle of the draft coupler may be suitably connected with the angle cock of the train pipe of the brake system, so that when the lever is adjusted to permit the sets of couplings to couple and uncouple the air will be simultaneously let on or cut off. The same type of actuating mechanismimay be em loyed for the gasand steam lines.

aving thus described the invention, whatv I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is a 1. In. an automatic coupling of the character described, a. coupler head provided u on one side of its longitudinal center with a orwardly extending arm having a tapered terminal tongue, said tongue merging at its inner side into the inner wall or face of the arm and terminating at its outer side short of the face of the arm, thereby providing an abutting shoulder,. the head eing provided on the opposite side of its center with a socket terminating in rear of the arm and having an abutting shoulder at the side thereof, the head and arm-being formed with a duct opening at one end, through the rear of the coupler and at its opposite end through the inner face of the arm, and a locking s rin secured to the socketed side of the hea an extending forwardly in a plane parallel to the arm and tongue.

2. In an automatic coupling of the character described, a coupler head provided on one side of its longitudinal center with a forwardly extending arm having a tapered tongue at its forward end merging at its inner side into the face of the arm and tenninating at its outer side short of the outer face of the arm, thereby providing a contact shoulder, the other side of the arm being formed with a air of superposed guide shoulders located in rear of said contact shoulder and providing intervening longi-' tudinal guide grooves, and the head having on the opposite side of its lon itudinal cen-,

ter a tapered socket terminating in rear of the arm and provided at its outer side .with a contact shoulder, and a locking spring secured t0 the socketed side of the head and extending forwardly in parallelrelation to the arm and its tongue to engage with the guide groove formed by the superposed shoulder of an op osin cou ling.

In testimony wiiereo I ai x my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS B. MoMILLAN Witnesses:

C. HOOKER, F. F. MASABLE. 

